World Championships medalist Lauren Boyle took home gold in the 400 freestyle in what was an impressive night for North Shore swimmers at the State New Zealand Short Course Championships. After a hiatus from the pool Boyle won the 400 freestyle in a time of 4:02.36, “We’ve done a couple of boxing classes and some spinning on the bike so it’s nice to mix it up a bit and do something that is not having your head under the water for hours on end,” said Boyle.
“The World Cup meets should be fun but I am not sure how I will go as the training has been quite light and I am not really sure where I will get to in my training in the next few weeks.”
Boyle swam a lifetime best in the 400 this summer at the World Cup in Eindhoven posting a 3:55.16.
Boyle was only one of six North Shore swimmers to win eight events on the evening.
21 year old Lauren Quilter was extremely impressive collecting her third and four title of the championships winning the 100 butterfly and 50 backstroke. Quilter was the only women to break 59 seconds in the 100 butterfly recording a winning time of 58.93 while in the 50 backstroke she posted a 27.92 beating Gabrielle Fa’amausili by one one-hundredth of a second.
Although Fa’amusili did not collect the gold she did set another national age group record posting a 27.93.
Fellow North Shore teammates Daniel Holt (men’s multi-class 100 freestyle and 100 IM), Chloe Francis (200 IM), Rebecca Dubber (women’s multi-class 400 freestyle) and Bryall McPherson (women’s multi-class 100 butterfly) all collected victories on the evening.
One of the more compelling stories of the meet has been 29 year old Kurt Crosland who earned his third and fourth national titles on the evening. After becoming a father Crosland retired from the sport to ensure that his family’s finances were in order and began competing in masters events where he set a world record this year. It was at that point that he decided to return to open competition, “It has taken a lot of hard work and dedication to get to this stage. Lots of early nights and putting in the hard work in training,” Crosland said.
“It’s awesome with my son who is now four. He is pretty much the reason I am swimming, to give him something to look up to when he is older.”
“My goal next year is definitely the Commonwealth Games. I want to have a crack at the podium there. That’s the big goal.”
Crosland won the 50 backstroke in a time of 24.08 and the 100 IM in a time of 53.88.
As per usual Paralympic superstar Sophie Pascoe was impressive winning the women’s multi-class 50 backstroke in a world record time of 30.49.
Full results can be found here
